Alison Bernstein, owner and founder of The Suburban Jungle Realty Group and Patti Natiss, director of client relations at the company pose in their office in Greenwich, Conn. on Monday, Nov. 18, 2013.
Suburban Jungle Realty advises young New York City families in their search for a home in lower Fairfield County and other suburban NYC areas. less

Alison Bernstein, owner and founder of The Suburban Jungle Realty Group and Patti Natiss, director of client relations at the company pose in their office in Greenwich, Conn. on Monday, Nov. 18, 2013.
Suburban ... more

Alison Bernstein, owner and founder of The Suburban Jungle Realty Group in her Greenwich Avenue office in Greenwich, Conn. on Monday, Nov. 18, 2013. Suburban Jungle Realty advises young New York City families in their search for a home in lower Fairfield County and other suburban NYC areas. less

Alison Bernstein, owner and founder of The Suburban Jungle Realty Group in her Greenwich Avenue office in Greenwich, Conn. on Monday, Nov. 18, 2013. Suburban Jungle Realty advises young New York City families ... more

The Suburban Jungle Realty Group literature available at the office on Greenwich Avenue in Greenwich, Conn. on Monday, Nov. 18, 2013. Suburban Jungle Realty advises young New York City families in their search for a home in lower Fairfield County and other suburban NYC areas. less

The Suburban Jungle Realty Group literature available at the office on Greenwich Avenue in Greenwich, Conn. on Monday, Nov. 18, 2013. Suburban Jungle Realty advises young New York City families in their search ... more

Suburban Jungle Realty educates homebuyers before they make a purchase

1 / 4

Back to Gallery

Every year, thousands of New York City residents consider buying a home in the suburbs, and they depend upon a real estate agent to give them options.

But they are missing an important element in the home-search process that could save them from making big mistakes, according to a Greenwich real estate consultant.

Fledgling homebuyers should be consulting a company like Suburban Jungle Realty Group, according to Alison Bernstein, whose family moved to Westport from New York City in 2005, then to Greenwich in 2008 -- the same year she formed her business, which counsels New York City residents who may be unfamiliar with communities in lower Fairfield County, Long Island, northern New Jersey and other suburbs.

Her experience in trying to find the right home in the right community led her to start her business, which has an office in New York.

"We had no objective people helping us," Bernstein said. Real estate agents she dealt with directed her only to communities where they had listings and touted the towns' attributes, she said. "We would run to a town to see a house but had no perspective of how that house fit into the rest of our search or how that house and location and town compared to the last one we had seen."

Obtaining information about a community's school system, taxes, recreation services, infrastructure, societal aspects and other factors can be crucial for a homebuyer before they make a purchase, said Bernstein, who was named Female Entrepreneur of the Year and whose company won the Most Innovative Company of the Year award at the 2013 Stevie Awards for Women in Business.

Works with Realtors

"Each family works with a personal strategist to talk about what is important to them. We don't have our own agents because it would be a conflict of interest. We have agreements with about 200 real estate agents," Bernstein said. She said her firm uses the services of 500 tri-state area local consultants to assist clients in narrowing their options. "They provide true color of what life is like there."

Suburban Jungle Realty's consultants center their efforts on getting to know the clients and learning about their needs, she said, adding the firm covers more than 500 communities within commuting distance to New York City.

"We make money like any other real estate company. If and when you purchase a home, we make a buyer's agent commission off the seller of the home," said Bernstein, who has 15 years in the real estate industry. "We've worked with thousands of clients since 2008. We're there to help them ask the right questions."

The service resembles what real estate firms used to offer in pre-Internet days, said Barbara Cleary, owner of Barbara Cleary Realty in New Canaan.

"You'd really want to do that before buying a house. The most important part is location. If you have the location, you can always change the house," Cleary said. "Now, people get their information from the Internet so they arrive pre-sold. Everyone thinks they can get information on the Internet, but the human touch is still important. It's very individual."

As the housing market improves, clients are learning that finding a bargain in the suburbs is increasingly a challenge.

`Frustrated buyers'

"It's changed from several years ago. Now, we're seeing bidding wars. We have a lot more frustrated buyers. There's not enough inventory," Bernstein said. "Every client needs a different level of hand-holding."

That often is the job of Patti Natiss, director of client relations at Suburban Jungle, who experienced the challenges of moving from New York City -- first to Armonk, N.Y., then to Greenwich.

"I didn't have a service like this," said Natiss, who came to her position a year ago after a career in advertising. "I love our clients. They're great people, but they don't know the color of the towns. I never push anyone before they're ready."

Topics can range from well water to the public schools to the length of the commute, Natiss said, adding she and her clients typically narrow their options to two or three communities. She urges her clients to visit those towns several times and do much research to get a grasp of what they like.

Learning the flavor

of a town

"We feel that the house is the last piece of the puzzle. It's about the client learning about the flavors and colors of each town. It's a feeling," Natiss said.

The firm's clients declined interviews with Hearst Connecticut Newspapers, but New York City resident Liam Gilroy said he is contemplating a move from Manhattan and would consider using the company's services.

"I'm always looking on Zillow about properties. If I could focus on one ZIP code, it would make it more manageable," Gilroy said. "My experience with real estate agents is that they're only as good as what they have in inventory."

"It's a good idea. A buyer from out of state should do their homework. A person has to find out what's good for them -- not someone else," she said.

Because of the distance from New York City and the selection of homes in northern Fairfield County, compared with the multimillion-dollar prices of lower Fairfield County, there is little likelihood that Suburban Jungle Realty would find sufficient business in her area, said Betsy Pankulis, owner of Best Realty in Danbury and president of the Northern Faifield County Association of Realtors.

"You can get most of that information from a Realtor. It (Suburban Jungle) sounds like a relocation company," she said. "It's nothing like what I've come across, but it's interesting."